Serena Software to pick over Borland's remains

Plays the old switcheroo

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Serena Software appears to have woken from its dreamy web 2.0 mash-up hiatus and begun circling over the remains of ALM competitor Borland Software.

While the soon-to-be-acquired Borland awaits digestion by MicroFocus, Serena intends to poach some customers during the process.

The company has launched a promotion where Borland customers can switch over to Serena's application-lifecycle-management software, Serena Dimensions CM, for the price of their current Borland annual maintenance fees.

"We have heard that Borland customers are concerned about the future of Borland and its products," sniped Serena vice president of marketing Rene Bonvanie in a statement. "Serena is offering a practical, safe approach to help Borland customers move now to our industry leading ALM solution, which was recently enhanced and has a strong product roadmap."

The promotion does seem to dispel the rumor that Serena is the mystery bidder that's forced MicroFocus to raise its offered price for Borland from $1.00 per share, or $75m, to $1.50 a share, or $113m. Or perhaps - mind the tinfoil hat - its a nefarious plot to make MicroFocus pay more while keeping an alibi. Is Serena that vicious? You tell me.

Borland's shareholders will vote on the deal July 22, so we'll have to wait until then to see if Bidder X ups the ante or gets unmasked. ®